Tom Thomson's Algonquin

Smoke Creek - Algonquin Park
Other side of Hwy 60 overpass
 Sepia Watercolour Sketch
 Circ. 1999

Tom Thomson's Algonquin

In 1998 I thought to make a book of sketches about Algonquin Park. We had been going up there for years, and although I hadn't done much landscape sketching, or painting, I decided to give it a try. You may have read somewhere in one of my the 200 plus postings, that I didn't get much, in fact no support from publishers regarding this project, and ended up pursuing it on my own. Eventually, the various sketches and so on would be used in a CD-ROM, and ultimately, years later a book that I published using Blurb Publishing in California. Anyway, back to 1998. I began the project in April. Back home in Horseshoe Valley the snow had melted and it was well into spring weather, so I headed up to Algonquin Park. Surprise, surprise, there was still snow on the ground and the lakes were pretty much still frozen over. It was a long drive so not to have the time spent wasted, despite a freezing north wind blowing across the lakes I decided to make some sketches. At Tea Lake where the water flows under the highway overpass into Smoke Creek, I made the following sketch of Tea Lake.

View of Tea Lake from Smoke Creek, Algonquin Park. Watercolour Sketch 1998

Tom Thomson's oil sketch of the same scene.

At the time that I made my quick sketch I knew little about Tom Thomson, although I've since learned quite a lot coming to realize that his home base so to speak, was just around the corner at Canoe lake. When I saw Thomson's sketch made decades before mine I realized that he probably stood at the same spot that I made mine. I've since over the years returned to this site and have made a number of sketches. I often make multiple sketches on an area as over a period of years, the view changes as does one's style. It's interesting to observe personal growth.

Tea Lake from Smoke Creek, Algonquin Park.   Graphite Drawing on beige paper 2021

Quick pencil thumbnail sketch of Tea Lake

Tea Lake from Smoke Creek. Pen and Ink Sketch.  1998

Over the years, as mentioned I've made a number of sketches in this area, both here and near to the control dam at the Oxtongue River.

I'm certain that I have more sketches of this area and as I find them I may pop back and include them in this posting. In the meantime you may be interested in reading up on Tom Thomson, his mysterious death, and how, with the help of his friends, the Group of Seven, became iconic.

Tea Lake From Smoke Creek - Pencil Sketch

Tea Lake.   Pencil Sketch 2015

As the title on the sketch indicates this sketch was made in 2015 just below the Tea Lake Dam.

The dam  of Thomson's era has been replaced with a more modern structure. It's a favourite fishing spot for trout fisher persons just as it was during Thomson's day. In fact it is reported that this is one of the last places that Tom was seen before heading back to Canoe Lake where his destiny was to play out.

Tea Lake from Hwy 60, The Corridor.  Pencil Drawing

                                

Tea Lake                                    Pencil Sketch

In the event that you might be interested in reviewing one of my books about Algonquin Provincial Park, I'm attaching a link....

https://www.blurb.ca/b/8036717-my-painting-places-algonquin-provincial-park-part

WENT UP TO ALGONQUIN...

We went up to to Algonquin Park the other day. We actually spent a week in the area, but due to an unusual heat wave, accompanied by a humidex that came close to 40C, we only went into the park on a couple of occasions. Too hot for an older person to sit and sketch. I managed to scribble a couple of sketches....

Costello Lake, Algonquin Pk.    Pen & Ink Sketch.  2021

Oxtongue Lake near to Dwight, ON.  Pencil Sketch. 2021

I also managed to scribble a bit of a poem...

Summer Green

Trees,

dressed in their summer green, 

line the banks of a northern lake.

A loon lays claim, 

only to be answered by another.

A skein of geese,

noisily, 

descends from on high,

and splash land

disturbing the cold clear water.

The sky,

once bright blue,

covers over with clouds 

threatening.

A far off rumble breaks the silence.

The wind, 

once a zephyr,

strengthens.

Droplets of rain band together, 

and form a mist, 

that hides the distant shore.

A flash of light,

a crash of symbols

and the sky now dark and 

unfriendly -

with a roar, 

empties,

and it begins to pour.

The loons seek cover.

The geese once vocal,

tuck their heads, 

under wings folded,

and cringe as lightning flashes

and the thunder roars.

And then…. 

silence.

The clouds blow over, 

the sky returns to a brilliant blue,

the wind dies to a zephyr,

and the trees,

dressed in their summer green,

shake the rain from their leaves, 

and flutter in a cooling breeze.

The loons come out of hiding.

The geese scattered by the storm, 

now gather, 

and gaggle,

then gaggle some more.

Life on the northern lake,

ever timeless,

continues, 

much as before.

 

TIPPING POINT

I've mentioned that I enjoy writing, as much as making sketches and paintings, and in this time of pandemic I've turned to writing to help to pass the time until "we can all get together again."

The other day I was watching a program, or perhaps I was reading a news item, doesn't matter, and the author was going on about our world about to reach the "tipping point" a point of no return regarding global warming. Well, sorry to say, that point has come and gone. We're now faced with adaptation as there's no way that we're stopping the dominoes from falling. I keep thinking of the sci-fi movie, "Blade Runner", and can see the future of Earth in a couple of decades.

Far fetched thinking? Perhaps. but with no one seeming to listen, no one (really) willing to change their wasteful habits......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eogpIG53Cis

 TIPPING POINT

Some time ago, 

we overstepped the reason 

for our being, 

abandoned Nature, 

took a stand, and decided 

to rob the land.

The Laws of Nature

a force needed, that 

provided balance to a world 

created from fire and dust

has become undone, and

like dominoes in a row, 

one by one, 

we watched them fall, 

until wth speed 

we’ve lost control. 

The world is now ablaze

smoke from wildfires spread their haze,

storms unparalleled wreak havoc,

people are becoming crazed

fearful that their world, 

their sense of being, as

their very worth, 

becomes undone.

Of course, it’s true,

no sense thinking otherwise,

the tipping point near,

some would think, 

when truth be known, 

that point was reached

long,

long ago.

It’s quite amazing,

some would say, 

how quickly things went astray, but again, 

truth be known, things went south

long,

long ago.

We told you so, but

you wouldn’t listen,

ignored our pleas 

to see the signs.

Like Aesop’s Fable, 

the “Ant and the Grasshopper”,

the world looked away, and 

fiddled and played,

while all around London Bridge, 

the world we know, 

was falling down.

Now with winter on our heels

we look to Nature to save the day, and

make all the bad things go away, but 

Nature has long since given up, 

deciding to let  the dominoes fall…. 

where they may.

The tipping point has come and gone,

the Pied Piper plays his song, and 

despite skies ablaze the people

fail to pay their dues, and 

through the haze,

senselessly,

they continue 

to march along.

*****

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio/pdfs/aesop/the_ant_and_the_grasshopper.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd4DexKGhHw

https://allthatsinteresting.com/london-bridge-is-falling-down